My Week in Review: 4-10 November

The weekly of life of one J_ _ _ _. L_ _ _ _:

Sunday 4 November: I got an extra hour of sleep as daylight savings ended this morning. Arose around 10:45 am after laying under the covers for about an hour mostly asleep. I toasted frozen waffles for breakfast.I went over to King Soopers and got my Sunday papers, some bananas, milk, bread, and apple pie. It was a clear sunny warm day with some good winds blowing and temperatures near 70 degrees -- yet another kind of day I thought we were done with about three weeks ago ! I then got back home around noon, read my papers thoroughly, did the sudoku, and watched the Broncos get slaughtered in Detroit and a pretty entertaining Kansas City/Green Bay game. I continued to read my papers and then watched another good game between the unbeatens New England and Indianapolis. I had a lunchmeat sandwich for a lunch snack. I watched 60 Minutes which had a real good story about elephants in Chad. I then went to work on my desk/office and made some progress, filling up about three garbage bags with refuse and unnecessary or dated items. I had a TV dinner of chicken fried steaks, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, and a brownie. I took all that trash out and the wind was still blowing decently but it was still warm around 50 degrees. I worked on my blog and surfed while having Mighty Joe Young and A Night at McCools as movies on. I shaved and took a shower and hit the hay around 1am.

Monday 5 November: Back to work for the full day. It was a cold day compared to recently but sunny and calm. I do not think it got much out of the low 4os all day. Being Monday I went straight home very tired. I had spaghettios and butter bread for dinner. I watched the NHL game between the Rangers and Flyers, the MNF game between the Steelers and Ravens, and the Avalanche game against Calgary. I drifted off to sleep on the recliner before 8pm and woke up before 10pm and then continued back to sleep in my bed.

Tuesday 6 November: A cold morning as temps got near 20 degrees and the apartment was in the low 50s when I awoke. But it was a bright sunny cloudless day with little wind and temps climbed to the upper 50s. I worked the full day. Took some big empty boxes from work to use in my repack project of boxes in the garage this week or next. I do need to go do laundry as it has been since late July since I last did this task. I also have to go wash my big area rugs in some oversize washers as those carpets have not been laundered in many, many years as I have had them since 1989. This will probably be the project for Wednesday on my day off. I had macaroni & cheese and peas & carrots for dinner. I watched the Rangers/Islanders NHL game, watched "Carpoolers" on ABC, and the last 7 minutes of the Central Michigan/Western Michigan football game and then the 9pm news on CW2. I totally forgot Boston Legal was on. I had turn the heat on for the first time this season as it was getting chilly inside the apt even with a sweatshirt, sweatpants, and slippers on. I guess I will have no excuse for staying up much past 10:30pm with Letterman and Leno off the air indefinitely with no writers to create their jokes and gags due to their strike. If this carries past the end of college football and maybe even the NFL, I am going to have to do other inexpensive activities like hit the bookstore more than once per week to read and go to the $ movies and rent the cheap old videos at the nearby video stores. I was going to do much of this anyway as we got into winter but now it will become more imperative. Bedtime will come tonight after "Nightline" on ABC.

Wednesday 7 November: A day off from work so I slept in until after 10am. It was a real nice day with lots of sunshine and breezy. The temperature reached into the mid to upper 60s after a morning low below freezing. I went over to the park after breakfast and walked two laps around the perimeter which would be about a mile. I then gathered up the laundry and got that task done for another couple of months. After I finished up around 2:45pm, I went over to Subway and had a footlong while I read my papers. When I got home I removed a few things from the garage and brought them up and took a few empty boxes down. I folded and put away my clean clothes and linens, made the bed, and then relaxed surfing while watching the evening news. The CMA awards are on tonight so I will enjoy this concert but I will keep an eye on the Avalanche/Oilers NHL game as well. The concerts were great and memorable. I went to bed around 11pm after Nightline.

Thursday 8 November: Another full day back to work. The unseasonably warm and mild weather continued as we got into the upper 60s under clear blue skies with breezes. I got home around 5:30 and had a salad with 1000 island dressing and a microwave burger. I watched my comedies (Earl, 30 Rock, Office, & Scrubs) while keeping track of the football games (BYU/TCU & WVa/L'ville). I drifted off into a nap around 8:45 and did not waken until around 10:45. I watched Nightline, checked my email, and updated my blog before going to bed around 11:45.

Friday 9 November: Another full day at work. It was yet again another warm and mostly sunny day with a record breaking high of 67 degrees with virtually no wind. It is a real shame to have be stuck indoors on days like these, but I found a few excuses to go outside three times during the afternoon for a couple of minutes. After I got off work, I put fuel in my truck which was painful as the price per gallon is up to $2.93 which is up about 30 cents in the last three weeks. Damn oil corporations and Arabs -- death to them all ! I used a coupon I got in the paper and went to Qdoba and got two burritos for the price of one and read my papers. I got home around 7:45 and just relaxed through the evening. I watched a good close hockey game between the Avalanche and Canucks. I used my foot massager and soothed my sore feet. Bedtime came after Nightline.

Saturday 10 November: I woke up only about two hours or so after having gone to bed so I surfed some more for about an hour and fell back asleep around 2:30 am. I slept well and did not reawaken until around 10:45am. It was partly cloudy day with temps reaching the mid to upper 60s with no wind. I had cereal for breakfast and enjoyed my day off watching college football. I started with Wisconsin's upset of Michigan, Iowa State's big comeback over Colorado, and Northwestern edging Indiana. I also saw Nebraska come to life and pound Kansas State, Missouri pound Texas A&M, and Clemson swamp Wake Forest. As the afternoon continued, I watched Wyoming get drilled by Utah, Air Force hand it to Notre Dame, New Mexico edge Colorado State in a close one, Texas outlast Texas Tech, and Illinois upset #1 Ohio State. The evening games saw Virginia batter Miami, Kansas outbattled Oklahoma St, Boston College took it on the chin to Maryland, and South Carolina came up short against Florida. The night games featured Oregon St clubbing Washington St, San Diego St trouncing Nevada-Las Vegas, and Fresno St on the islands getting whipped by unbeaten Hawaii. I had a sandwhich for lunch and au gratin potatoes for dinner. Todd was supposed to come by but he never did. All in all, a quiet autumn Saturday spent at home...its been since November of '03 that I have been able to treasure days like this at this time of the year. I watched the Star Trek episode "The Deadly Years" before heading off to bed around midnight.

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Latest Winter Outlook Forecast is Much Warmer

The NWS has put forth their forecasts for the coming months in three month blocks. In my area, the outlook has the probability of normal to above normal temperatures to be around 70 % through March, and further we get into the winter, its even more likely we will be above normal. After 1 February the outlook goes to 82 %. Maybe a 70 degree day will occur in December or February...

Nationally the likelihood of the warmest above normal temperatures is in the southwest from Las Vegas and all of Arizona to across all of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma and eastward into Arkansas and Missouri and northward across all of Kansas and most of Colorado. The only areas where it may even be close to normal are Florida, the Pacific Coast, and the Pacific Northwest across Montana into western North Dakota.

http://www.weather.gov/climate/calendar_outlook.php?wfo=cys

http://www.weather.gov/climate/l3mto.php

http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/people/klaus.wolter/SWcasts/index.html

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Where is There Any Good Economic News ?

The news lately about the US and global economy is all bad. Oil prices will cross the $100 threshold next week, an occurrence unimaginable just a few months ago. The US dollar is in a freefall, having lost over 12 % of its value in recent months against the Euro and more against other currencies. Gold prices are shooting up quickly. The elitist stock market is even in decline, with the Dow having lost about 9 % of its value in the last five weeks. Other indices have seen reversals as well. Retail sales are tanking, the home mortgage crisis grows worse day by day, banks are hemorraging billions of dollars, and the US Treasury has printed about an extra third of a trillion dollars extra to keep the money supply and credit flowing. And prices for all consumer necessities such as food and fuel continue to rise and put the squeeze on everybody.

This is the most grim economic period since the early years of Reagan, over a quarter-century ago. And the most frightening thing is that we are no where near bottom or at a point where the worst is in sight. This will be a long difficult winter for many, and the biggest question awaits --
will we start to see a discernable rixe in unemployment in the coming months with everything else going into the dumper ? Its already seemingly happening in the bellweather state, California.

And to think there is over 400 days left of the Bush Junta in power !

NFL Picks for Week Ten, 11-12 November

The picks for this weekend's NFL games which is the tenth week of the season and the final weekend where there are byes for some teams.

Sunday 11 November

JAX (5-3) @ TENN (6-2): Titans (-4) 20, Jaguars 13
X X
DEN (3-5) @ KC (4-4): Chiefs (-3) 23, Broncos 16
X X
BUF (4-4) @ MIA (0-8): Bills (-4) 33, Dolphins 17
+ X
CLE (5-3) @ PGH (6-2): Steelers (-10) 29, Browns 16
+ X
STL (0-8) @ NORL (4-4): Saints (-11) 27, Rams 10
X X
ATL (2-6) @ CAR (4-4): Panthers (-3 1/2) 24, Falcons 13
X X
PHIL (3-5) @ WASH (5-3): Redskins (-3) 17, Eagles 14
X +
MINN (3-5) @ GB (7-1): Packers (-6) 27, Vikings 17
+ +
CINC (2-6) @ BALT (4-4): Ravens (-3 1/2) 16, Bengals 14
X +
CHI (3-5) @ OAK (2-6): Bears (-4) 20, Raiders 13
+ +
DAL (7-1) @ NYG (6-2): Giants (+3) 30, Cocaineboys 27 UPSET
X X
DET (6-2) @ ARIZ (3-5): Cardinals (+1) 20, Lions 17 UPSET
+ +
IND (7-1) @ SD (4-4): Chargers (+4 1/2) 24, Colts 21 UPSET
+ +

Monday 12 November

SF (2-6) @ SEA (4-4): Seahawks (-9 1/2) 31, FortyNiners 14

IDLE: NENG NYJ TB HTN

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